BSG Brick Wall Surprises
by Mariel3
Summary: Laura deals with a suprise...AR
1. Chapter 1

Here's an angst-free shortie in honour of a request in that LJ that's long ago and far away...

As always, I'll admit they're not mine, but I like treating them as though they were, just for the sheer fun of it.

I hope you enjoy...

**Brick Wall Surprise**s  
By: Mariel

-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-

Laura Roslin hadn't fallen into love. Like a speeding car into a brick wall, she'd crashed into it before she'd even known it was there. One minute she'd been confidently driving along on a clear, open road, the next, huge chunks of her were inextricably entwined with the aforementioned brick wall.

Her heart was somewhere in amongst those pieces.

To her astonishment, it felt really good.

She lay quietly, feeling battered and deliciously well-used, then smiled as the brick wall moved against her back. She wondered if he'd feel the same surprise she had upon waking and fully realising what had happened.

She doubted it.

William Adama was rarely surprised by anything. She'd spent a lot of time watching him, and he had, she thought, an innate ability to accept whatever a moment held. He absorbed life and its events the way a sponge did water. No matter how messy things got, he soaked it up and put things back the way they should be without any outward change. It was an ability she found surprising in such a solid brick of a man.

Pondering the previous evening carefully, however, she strongly suspected that this time, his lack of surprise might be due to something more than just his nature... Bill was, after all, a man given to the making of plans. For all she knew, he had carefully mapped out the seduction she had run into the night before. She could imagine him, his face impassive, methodically plotting out his operation and then executing it with ruthless cunning when the time was right, her attention distracted, and her defences down.

Not that her defences had ever been too high where he was concerned.

She smiled in satisfaction. To give him his due, his approach had been flawless. Such orchestration couldn't have been by mere happenstance.

Stretching carefully, she took a moment to enjoy the feeling of having a body that ached in all the right places. Then she rolled over to look at Bill, who now lay flat on his back, an extremely content look gracing his rugged features. Sighing happily, she inched closer, wrapped an arm over his chest, and smoothly draped one slender leg across his waist.

Without opening his eyes, Bill adjusted himself so that his arm was around her and her head on his shoulder. His other hand moved to lay comfortably across her thigh.

"Good morning," he rasped.

"Good morning," she replied, planting a kiss on his chest. She noted how easily their bodies fit together and snuggled against him comfortably.

His voice rumbled again.

"Sleep okay?"

"Wonderfully."

Eyes still closed, he hugged her gently with the arm she lay on. "Good."

She paused a moment, then softly asked, "Bill?"

He slid his hand along her leg in a soothing manner. With a voice that still held the sand and gravel of sleep in it, he told her, "Shhh...We can deal with the shock and surprise later. Don't talk. Enjoy."

She frowned at his guessing her thoughts so easily, then asked, "So you _do_ feel surprise?"

A small smile curved his lips and he shook his head slightly. "No. But you do." He opened one eyelid to look at her, then closed it again.

She waited a moment. When he didn't elaborate, she asked, "Care to tell me why _you're_ not surprised?" Running a hand across his bare chest, she thumbed his nipple and noted, "This is a big jump from our arguing across your desk about stockpiling antibiotics."

Both his eyes opened. They glittered wickedly. "Our _lying _across my desk just seemed like a more enjoyable alternative," he said. Forestalling any comment she might make, he quickly continued, "Laura, we've frakked each other silly and gotten a good night's sleep. Now we're enjoying the pleasant experience of waking up together. For a moment, let's accept this without questioning it. This is good. _We_ were good. Let's leave it at that for a while. Good is...good. Good is _very_ good." He exhaled softly, and his body relaxed. The hand of the arm that encircled her lightly played up and down her arm rhythmically.

She shot him a look, which went unnoticed because his eyes were closed again. A smile curved the corners of his mouth.

He was definitely in a very self-satisfied, pleased mood this morning. She sighed and, though it went against her nature, decided to at least attempt to comply. She closed her eyes firmly and tried to shut off her thoughts.

-xxx-

They lay in silence a short while. Bill could feel the tension humming through her body and considered a number of ways he could reduce it without having to speak. His method of choice, however, would take more than the few minutes he had available to him before they had to get up.

He sighed inwardly. Might as well talk and get it over with. Laura was Laura, so talking was inevitable, anyways. She'd want to question this. Would _need _to question this, though he had no understanding as to why. After all, they'd agreed last night that there was love here somewhere - she'd said it and he clearly remembered his saying it - so why there immediately needed to be _more _discussion was beyond him. What more needed to be said?

The tenseness in the body lying beside him screamed there was plenty.

"You need to talk," he said in a resigned tone.

She nodded. "I'm afraid so," she said.

Enjoying the softness, he lightly stroked the skin of her thigh with the tips of his fingers. "Okay, then. I'm sorry. Enough savouring the moment. Talk away."

Ignoring the way her body was reacting to his touch, she spoke. "What the hell happened?" she asked. "How did we get here?"

Bill was in no mood for philosophical discussion.

"Cylons happened," he said gruffly. "Nasty bastards ruined everything. Nuked our world, chased us across the galaxy, and here we are." He tightened his hold on her in a warm squeeze. "It's nice to wake up beside you, though."

Wit wasn't what she was looking for. Slapping him lightly on the chest, she scolded, "Bill. Be serious."

"Sorry," he said in a not-very-convincing tone. "What was the question again?"

"You're not sorry, and you know damned well what the question was," she said in an exasperated tone.

He sighed. Maybe she just wasn't a morning person. Who'd've thought she'd be so bloody _intense_ about this? She needed to relax and enjoy-

Abruptly pulling him from his thoughts, Laura rose up on an elbow and looked down at him. "Stop thinking and answer the question. What are we doing here? Look at us! How in gods' names did we end up like this? Have we both lost our minds?" She flopped her head back down on his shoulder and looked at the ceiling. "What were we thinking?"

He hugged her briefly, noting that she was making no movement to actually _leave_ the 'here' she was so concerned about being in. "We're completely sane," he told her confidently. "The how we got here, I'll leave to your recollection of last night's _very_ enjoyable events. And if we were thinking at all, I believe we were thinking that it was time we stopped skirting around what we wanted to do and actually _did_ it."

She lifted her head again to stare at him.

He looked at her, his eyes wide. "What? You saying you didn't want to?

Her silence was all the answer he needed.

"So now," he said, "we've finally done it." He grinned wolfishly. "And if I remember correctly, we enjoyed doing it a lot."

It was true. They'd been pretty good together. For a first time, they'd been remarkable together.

And been remarkable more than once - which, she thought with a satisfied grin, was also remarkable, all things considered.

He felt the movement of her cheek against his body.

"You're smiling."

She nodded, unable to help herself from releasing a soft giggle. "The word 'remarkable' keeps going through my head," she admitted.

He chuckled. Maybe there was hope for her after all.

"You, me, or the whole thing?" he asked.

She smiled again, more broadly this time. "All of the above."

"So you're not unhappy."

"Not when I think about the actual _event_," she said, "It's just when I think about-"

"Then keep your thoughts on the 'event'," he suggested quickly. His hand slid down her thigh and his fingers began to caress the soft skin behind her knee.

She flattened her palm and stroked his stomach just above where her leg straddled him. "That's easy for _you _to say. You don't have to account for your actions to the Quorum."

"And you do?"

"Of course I do."

"_All _of your actions?"

"I'm their leader. I'm responsible to them for what I do."

He turned his head awkwardly to look at her, his face a study in humoured disbelief. "You mean to tell me you're going to stand up in front of the Quorum today and tell them, 'I frakked the Admiral of the Fleet last night; I hope you don't mind." Still looking at her, he asked, "What do you say after that? 'Any questions or comments?'?"

She chuckled. "Well, not exactly, but they'll have to know."

"Why the hell do they have to know?" he asked. He lay his head back down on his pillow with a soft thud. She was so linear sometimes it was painful.

"Because..." Her voice trailed off.

He grunted. "That's what I thought. What we do here involves only us. It's no one else's business."

"Until they find out what we're doing. Then it's very much their business," she said in a practical tone. "They'll _make_ it their business."

She had a very good point, but he chose to ignore it. There were other, more pleasant things to consider: "From your wording, I can infer that you intend us to do what we did again. That's good. That's very good."

"I'm happy you're happy," she said, in a slightly disgruntled tone. She'd had no idea he'd be so damned _happy_ with life after a good frak. It leant a whole new side to his personality. Still, there were serious things she had to get him to consider...

"I can see that perhaps we don't _have_ to tell them, exactly," she told him, "at least not at first...but how in the names of all the gods are we going to manage to keep it a secret? Tory will know the minute she goes in to wake me up this morning. It's no secret where she left me last night."

"You need to learn to plan ahead more."

His voice was unconcerned.

She lifted her head and looked at him. She'd been right. The brick wall _had _justjumped out in front of her out of nowhere..

"So you _did_ plan my seduction," she accused.

His eyebrows rose innocently as he turned his head to look at her again. "Me? What are you talking about? I thought it was _you_ who did the seducing. I didn't know what hit me. I was just an innocent victim." He grinned, and admitted, "A happy victim, mind you - some might even say an _enthusiastic _victim - but innocent, _definitely_ innocent. One minute I was enjoying a quiet evening at home, the next you're here and somehow you're suddenly crashed up against me and we're making out on my desk, and then my sofa and then in my rack..." He grunted. "You could give a man a little more warning about your intentions, you know. I'd have put away some of the breakables."

Laura bit her tongue. Bill was being funny. Let him. She needed to know why he was so confident that their night together wouldn't be headline news by lunchtime.

"So how is last night going to be kept a secret?"

"I took a moment during your trip to the head to send Tory the message that our meeting went overlong. _Galactica_ provided you with quarters for the night. The usual ones, right down the corridor. The bed's already rumpled up. You will return to _Colonial One _after finishing over breakfast this morning what it was too late to finish with me last night." His arm tightened around her. "We are very hard working people."

"You don't think Tory'll be suspicious?"

He shook his head in disbelief. She was being hopelessly anal.

"Laura, this is where you're supposed to be thinking how ingenious I've been." he said patiently. "And no, why would she be suspicious? It's happened before."

She was still trying to adjust to this different, just-frakked personality of his. Gods. Women must have frakked him just to experience it...

If they hadn't wanted to kill him because of it.

Torn between thinking it cute and wanting to hit him, she said, "Yes, but-"

She stopped. Of course. It did make sense. Why should last night be perceived any differently from the other times she'd spent the night on _Galactica_ in quarters provided for her? People were used to it happening occasionally.

"People won't accept it as an excuse if it happens too frequently," she warned.

"Hmmm..._frequently_." He paused, happily mulling the word over in his mind. "I like the sound of that, too," he told her with a smirk. When she looked at him warningly, he sobered, but the glimmer of humour in his eyes remained. "Laura, you've got to stop looking for problems. This will work because we want it to."

She had to admit he was confident. Maybe admirals were more used to things going according to plan than politicians were. Maybe brick walls were just more used to things adjusting to them as opposed to the other way around. Whatever the case, perhaps just for now it was safe to follow his lead and not worry.

He looked at the clock. They were soon going to be running late. "Time to rise and meet the day." He slid his arm from beneath her and moved so that she lay partly beneath him. Touching his lips to hers, he said huskily, "Good morning."

She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck, loving the feel of her breasts pressed against his chest. Skin-to-skin felt very, very good. "Good morning," she responded, moving slightly so that she could feel every bit of him against her she could.

He groaned and with his mouth doing delicious things to her neck, lay more heavily against her. She pressed against him and they moved together, enjoying the feel of their bodies sliding against each other. Slowly, he lifted his head. "We've really got to not do this," he said reluctantly. "I've a meeting scheduled. It's here, so they'll be at the door."

She knew her morning started early, too.

"Later, then," she promised.

"Later," he agreed. "Duty calls."

Waiting would just make it all the better.

He kissed her softly and then they both rose reluctantly, a lovely thrum of awareness accompanying them.

He looked at the clock and frowned. "We talked too long. I didn't factor that into my timing." Thinking, his frown slowly transformed into a grin. "We may need to indulge in another 'first'."

Looking up from bending over to pick up her clothing, Laura stopped when she realised what he'd said and accused him, "So this _was_ all planned."

"Maybe," he admitted, his eyes twinkling.

She straightened and tried to glare at him. She knew she should have been royally ticked off at him, but to be honest, she found herself unable to work up much more than satisfaction that his plan had succeeded so well. Holding her skirt in front of her, she asked, "And our next 'first' will be what?"

"Showering together," he said lightly. "We've only time for one now."

His mood was infectious. Finally giving into it, she laughed. Who knew just-frakked brick walls had a sense of humour? That they could be so happy and so downright pleased with themselves? Dropping her skirt back onto the floor, she stepped over debris from the previous night's crash site and moved towards the head.

"Well, let's get going, then," she said. Tossing him a smile over her shoulder, she added, "I hope you factored in time for a long one."

She had a few surprises of her own for this brick wall. She grinned happily. William Adama would be smiling all day...

End  
Brick Wall Surprises


	2. Chapter 2

Okay, here's some Monday morning madness. I didn't think there'd be anything to follow _Brick Wall Surprises_, but this popped into my head this weekend while I was away, and so I present to you...

**Another Brick Wall Incident**  
By: Mariel

-xxxxxxxxxx-

The road before her had been clear: President of the Twelve colonies; dying leader prophesied in the scriptures. She'd known where she was going and what lay ahead, and had felt very prepared.

She hadn't been prepared, however, to run into a brick wall named Adama.

In fact, she was pretty sure he hadn't even been on her map.

She certainly hadn't been prepared to crash into him a second time running last night. But here he was, for the second morning in a row... And here she was, smashed up against him like a wrecked car against a brick wall.

Again.

History repeating itself.

She smirked and stretched a bit, loving every moment of it.

This brick wall of a man, this solid, sometimes stolid man had captured her heart, ruthlessly awakened her libido, and left her uncertain about how to handle the situation.

But in spite of that uncertainty, here she was, her legs entwined with his, her head on his shoulder, his arms around her...She wasn't sure where she ended and he began, and she liked it that way. That she'd crashed into not just a body, but into an unexpected emotion as well, merely added a delicious, new dimension to her confusion.

She was, she had to admit, a total wreck where he was concerned.

And she was okay with that, too.

"You're thinking again, aren't you?" His low, bearish voice rumbled in her ear.

She jumped slightly. There it was again: that just-frakked tone in his voice. It held lightness and indulgence and a sense of all-is-right-with-the-world-ness that was unmistakable.

Hard to believe it came from the same stoic, staid man who guided the Fleet.

"You're awake," she finally said.

"Apparently so," he said as his hands glided across her skin.

"Bill, we've got to stop this."

He sighed. "Laura, we have people to see, places to go, decisions to make. We have to wake up sometime."

_Gods. Here we go again_, she thought. It'd take an hour or more before she got anything serious out of him.

But it was beyond her not to try.

"You know what I mean. I'm not talking about our waking up. This is two nights in a row. Two _mornings_ in a row. We were just having dinner, for godssakes. How are we going to explain my not making it home _this_ time?"

He tightened his arms around her. "Dessert took a while," he said happily.

She resisted the urge to slap him.

"I should never have said yes. What on Picon was I thinking?"

_What she'd been thinking_...

She often asked him that. He couldn't figure out why, when the answer was so obvious...

"You were thinking that you wanted the pleasure of my company. Of course, you may have stopped thinking_," _he said, "sometime after we moved to the sofa - but I believe that's when my company got particularly pleasurable, so I think it all balances out."

She bit her tongue. Hard. He was insufferable when he was in this sort of self-satisfied mood.

"Bill-"

The telephone rang. Reaching up over his head, Bill grasped hold of the receiver and brought it to his ear.

"Adama," he said in a raspy voice.

He paused as he listened to the voice on the other end, then said, "Let me check."

He waited a long moment with his hand over the mouth piece, then removed it and said, "Yes, she's here." He paused to listen, then said, "Fine. I'll let her know she should expect you."

Laura looked at him curiously. "What was that about?"

"It was your assistant, wondering if you were here. Apparently the Representative from Geminon wanted to see you first thing this morning. When Tory went in to ask you if you could be ready a little earlier than usual, she discovered that you weren't there. Apparently, it took her a while to track you down."

"_Frak_!" Laura exclaimed. Rolling over Bill, she tried to make it off the bed.

He held her on top of him.

"Where are you going?"

"To get dressed, dammit!" she hissed.

"Why are you so upset?" he asked.

She looked down at him. "The last thing I need is for her to know what I was doing last night!"

Bill sighed. She was so anal about people finding out. In his experience, the more you worried about something, the more likely it was to happen. The Fates worked that way. It was never a good idea to give them ideas...

"No reason she should," Bill said, his voice unconcerned.

She stiffened. "You reserved the guest quarters for me last night? _Again_?"

"Of course not. You said we couldn't use that excuse too often, remember?"

"So what's your excuse for me _this_ time?"

"I haven't thought of one, but I will."

Laura glared at him. His confidence made her want to hit him.

Making a movement that let Bill know she still wanted to get up, he obligingly released her and she slid her feet to the floor.

"I've got to get dressed," she repeated as she dragged Bill's coverlet off the bed and wrapped it around herself.

He nodded. "My loss, but I understand. Tory'll be here in about thirty minutes. She's leaving _Colonial One _now. You might want to shower - there's time."

With a stressed exclamation, Laura headed towards the bathroom, Bill's coverlet dragging along the floor behind her.

She emerged from her shower ten minutes later, in search of her clothes.

"They're on the chair, over there," he said as he passed her on his way to shower and shave.

She looked, and sure enough, her suit was folded on the seat of the chair and her blouse hung neatly on the back of it.

At least she wouldn't look as rumpled as she had the previous morning. Clothes left lying on the floor all night had a look to them that screamed things she didn't want screamed.

Wondering when he had had the time to take care of her clothes, she set about putting them on. She was straightening her skirt when he emerged from the head, a towel wrapped around his middle. He walked to his closet.

She paused to watch him, and felt a moment of regret for snapping at him. Giving in to an impulse she figured she'd likely regret, she walked over and made him face her. She slid her hands up his bare, damp chest and said in a tone that came out only a little more seductive than she intended, "Thanks for taking care of my clothes."

"You're welcome," he said. Looking down at her, he smiled and then kissed her softly. "It was the least I could do."

Liking the thrill his kiss sent through her, she lifted her head and met his lips with her own again. This time, their kiss deepened. He held her against himself more tightly and she wrapped her arms around his neck and arched against him.

Showered bodies, freshly brushed teeth, naked skin...

_Gods... _

Finally breaking apart, she said breathlessly, "Well...I guess I should let you get dressed..."

He bent his head and murmured against her neck, "Or perhaps you should let me _un_dress _you._"

A laugh bubbled out of her. "You never stop, do you!"

Before he could respond, a sharp knock on the entry hatch reminded them of life beyond his quarters.

Bill looked towards the entrance. "That will be Tory. You answer, while I finish dressing," he told her calmly.

Laura nodded and with her heart beating an unsteady tattoo, went to do so.

Tory stepped through the hatch. "Madam President," she said with a nod. Her face was solemn, her dark suit forbidding, and her hair was swept up in a tight, impeccable bun. Laura thought she looked somewhat like an executioner...

"Tory," Laura said, wondering if she could perhaps get through this without an explanation for her presence here at this hour of the morning.

"No one called to notify me that you would be staying on _Galactica_ for the night," Tory said, obviously affronted by that fact.

"No, I'm sorry about that."

"The Representative from Geminon was surprised when I had to admit that I didn't know where you were."

"Yes, well..." Laura searched her mind for a lie, any lie, to explain her presence here.

A fully-dressed Admiral turned the corner from his rack area and interjected smoothly, "The President fell asleep after dinner last night." His eyes travelled to the sofa, where a pillow and a blanket lay strewn against its soft leather.

As Tory turned to look at the evidence, Laura turned to look at Bill.

"I did," she said.

Turning to Tory, she repeated more firmly, "Yes, I did. I fell asleep. Unexpectedly. Went out like a light, in fact. I-"

The sound of Bill clearing his throat was her cue to shut up.

She did.

Tory's eyes narrowed slightly as she looked at the Admiral. He returned her look with guileless blue eyes.

"Asleep," Tory said, the tone of her voice making her disbelief a little more obvious than Laura would have liked.

He nodded. "We had dinner, and planned to have coffee before the President left for _Colonial One_. I returned after making it and discovered that President Roslin had nodded off," he lied easily. "Respecting our need for a well-rested leader, I flipped her feet up and covered her with a blanket." He turned amused eyes towards Laura. "I thought she was simply taking a quick nap to refresh herself after a long day, but 'power nap' doesn't appear to be one of the things our President has in her repertoire."

Tory's stance eased as her eyes turned towards her boss. The President had been working long days recently, and she'd been looking more tired than usual ...and what the Admiral said was true: she'd learned that any time the President said she was taking a quick nap, she usually slept for a few hours.

"You could have woken her," she said, her tone slightly accusing.

"Yes, but I fell asleep myself. At my age, one does," he explained, his expression bland.

Laura made a strangled sound and quickly looked down to fiddle with the clasp on her suit jacket. Tory eyed them both suspiciously.

"Okay, then," she said. "It's just important that there be no cause for rumour. I'm sure you understand."

They both nodded, letting her know that they understood. Completely.

Her eyes darting between them one last time, they finally settled on the President. "Are you ready to leave, Madame President? I'll schedule the Representative in later this morning, if that it all right with you."

"That would be fine, Tory," Laura said in her warmest presidential tone. "And I'll be finished here as soon as I have a word with the Admiral, if you don't mind."

Tory knew that this was the President's polite way of dismissing her so that she could speak with the Admiral privately. That Roslin felt the need to do so now made her strangely suspicious, but she nodded, and left.

As soon as the hatchway door closed, Laura turned on Bill.

"How in _Hades_ did you come up with that!"

Bill shrugged and stepped towards her. "A lucky guess. Power naps are a guy thing. Neither of my wives and none of the other women I've known have ever been able to keep a nap down to fifteen minutes. I figured you'd be no different."

She snorted, not sure she liked the mention of his wives, or of the 'other women' he'd known.

"I'm glad your _wealth of experience _has provided you with such useful information."

"And so you should be," he said, looking very pleased with himself. Seeing her chagrin, however, he quickly back-peddled a bit. "It really was just a lucky guess," he assured her. "Let's be happy it worked."

She relaxed slightly. He was right - they should be glad it worked. And when his hand reached up and softly touched her cheek, she couldn't help but relent and step closer to him.

"Very clever to plant the blanket and pillow," she smiled, letting her hand drift up to his shoulder.

He reached out with his other hand and drew her against him. "Thank you."

"But we do have to be a lot more careful," she said.

He lifted her chin and bent his head to kiss her. She was still anal, but he was sure she'd come to find this easier and easier. That was a good thing.

As soon as her arms slid around his neck, however, he broke the kiss. "There's only so much of this a man can take, Laura. You need to put on your shoes and leave soon, or she'll be in here wondering what's keeping you."

She smiled, and turned to put on her shoes. Once she was sure she was ready to leave, she smiled a goodbye and had almost reached the door when his voice stopped her. "We'll be careful Laura. You've got to stop worrying so much, though."

She turned and looked at him. He looked so just-frakked it wasn't funny. She wondered if she looked the same way. Wouldn't everyone in the fleet recognise it and put two and two together?

He saw the look of worry cross her face and knew its source. "No, Laura, people can't tell what we've been doing just by looking at us..." He grinned. "They'll just be happy we're in such a good mood today."

She grunted. "_Your_ people, maybe."

With that, she pulled open the hatch and left.

Bill grinned at the empty hatchway and turned to his desk.

The woman was completely adorable.

And he really did think she might get the hang of this.

Eventually.

End


	3. Chapter 3

This goes out to TJ, who reminded me I had unfinished business...

Which remains unfinished, but hey, some things take longer to end than others...

**Brick Wall Incident #3**  
By: Mariel

-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-

She awoke, instantly aware of where she was and who was next to her.

_The man was a frakking traffic hazard_, she thought. Rolling over against him, she sighed as she remembered how she'd ended up crashed against him _this_ time.

It had started innocently enough - he'd walked her through the corridors of_ Galactica _to the transport raptor standing ready to take her home to _Colonial One_. They'd been talking about a plan Gaeta was working on to prevent cylon infiltration of their computer systems. The proposed idea had been interesting and daring and had provided the perfect excuse for the two of them to spend a little more time in one another's company.

Then she'd done it. Reaching the docking pod, she'd turned and impulsively asked if the Admiral would share dinner with her while they finished discussing Gaeta's plan.

When he hesitated, she'd held her breath. They hadn't seen one another privately for more than a week, and she guessed that he was trying to stay faithful to her request that they stop putting themselves in awkward situations - _awkward_ being her clever euphemism for_ we'll-end-up-frakking-like-rabbits-if-we-do-this_.

She'd felt like a teenager when he'd finally finally replied with a formal, "Of course, Madame President." After notifying Tigh he would be conferencing with the President on _Colonial One_, he'd followed her into the raptor. Feeling his presence behind her, she'd straightened her shoulders, resolutely telling herself that she could do this. She could enjoy his company, share a meal and good conversation, and keep her hands off of him.

How difficult could it be?

The warm tingle between her legs should have been all the answer she needed...

Her thoughts stopped for a moment when Bill tightened his grip on her and snuggled against her more closely. She sighed. Obviously, she should have paid more attention to that tingle.

Scratch that. Paying attention to it is what had gotten her into this position. She should have ignored it. Totally. Completely. Ruthlessly.

He made it difficult, though. He was just too _there _to ignore.

Rubbing her cheek against his arm, she smiled. On her own territory, she had ended up being the aggressor. With focussed deliberation, she'd put both hands on the steering wheel, taken aim, and driven into him at top speed.

He hadn't known what hit him.

She smiled. Brick walls made for such easy targets.

And appreciative ones. He'd loved every minute of her taking the lead and had given evidence of his enjoyment in very pleasing ways.

It'd been exhilarating.

It'd been exciting.

It'd been damned sexy.

And, she decided, far too long since the last time.

Collapsing into an exhausted, contented heap, they'd rested peacefully until the time for him to leave had arrived.

And then, taking complete leave of her senses, she'd asked him to stay.

He'd objected.

_"What would it look like if I left here in the morning?" he asked. "You're worried about people talking; that would definitely be something for them to talk about."_

_"Oh, and it's all right if I'm seen leaving your quarters?"_

_"Of course not," he said, and patiently explained the obvious reasons the _Galactica_ leant itself to better, excusable opportunities for them to be together without being found out._

_"Why can't we just say you fell asleep here?" she asked, ignoring his voice of reason._

_"Remember what you said about using the same excuse twice?" he asked pointedly._

_That stopped her for a moment. Feeling a growing determination to have her own way, however, she stubbornly dug in her heels. "I'll think of something," she announced with more confidence than she felt._

_He looked at her askance. "You'll think of something?"_

_She didn't like his tone of disbelief. "Yes," she insisted, surer than ever in the face of his obvious lack of faith. "I'll think of something."_

_Humour warmed his eyes, and she felt him relax._

_"This I've got to see," he murmured._

_"So you're staying?"_

_He settled himself more deeply into the bed. He was a brave man, a man born to take chances, a man determined to beat the odds. How could he refuse this challenge? Deciding to see this thing through, he wrapped his arm around her firmly. "Nothing could move me," he vowed._

_Then he remembered. He had a pilot waiting to take him back to __Galactica, and he was Admiral of the Fleet; there were people responsible for knowing where he was at all times. A lot of people. People who needed to contact him if cylons attacked or something blew up or something big broke down...__Galactica would have to know where he was, and him announcing that he would be spending the night on _Colonial One _in the President's quarters couldn't possibly be a considered something no one would feel worthy of commenting on._

_Military grapevines were fast, efficient, imaginative, and brutal._

_He sighed. Staying was just asking for trouble._

_"I have to go."_

_She lifted her head and glared at him. "You do not. At least not now. Leave later."_

Much later_, she added silently._

_He played a sympathy card: "Laura, I've got a pilot waiting who wants to go home tonight. He needs his sleep."_

_She trumped his sympathy card effortlessly, saying, "So send him home. Tell him you're going to find your own way back."_

_He looked at her incredulously. "Find my own way back."_

_She nodded._

_"To _Galactica_," he said, not hiding his disbelief._

_"That _is _where you came from, yes," she said, nodding._

_"Laura, we're on two different space ships. _Space ships_. It's not as though I can sneak out the back door and walk back, or hail a cab from an alley." When she looked as though she was about to object, he quickly added, "And you _can't_ treat raptor transports like taxis."_

_"Why not?"_

_Bill opened his mouth to respond and then paused.  
_

Why not_? indeed._

_His mind worked furiously. "Fine," he finally said. "So I'll send him home and tell him I'll have someone else get me when we're finished arguing over fuel allotment figures."_

_She smiled triumphantly and decided not to question why he knew so much about sneaking out back doors and hailing cabs in alleys._

_"You can also mention I'm being a stubborn ass about things and will keep you far longer than is acceptable," she told him. "Then, when you call for someone at 0400, it'll be no surprise. Everyone knows I love discussing fuel. We'll have a lovely sleep together, and then you can go home and get ready for another day." Yawning, she lifted herself enough that he could get up and go to the phone._

_He looked at her. "__That's the excuse you're going to use for tonight?"_

_Still half-risen to let him get up, she looked back at him, frantically going over what she'd just said. A ridiculously surprised look crossed her face, followed quickly by one of deep satisfaction as realisation hit her._

_"Yes! Of course it is! Not bad, eh?"_

_He grunted. "It might pass with the raptor pilot, but Tory won't fall for it."_

_Refusing to let him take the wind out of her sails, Laura promised confidently, "I can take care of her."_

_Nodding, but not totally convinced, he rose._

_When he returned, she adjusted herself happily around him on her small mattress and relaxed._

_After a few moments, she realised he was about as far from relaxed as one could get._

_"What's wrong?"_

_"I can't sleep."_

_"Why?"_

_"This bed is too small."_

_"This bed is fine. It's almost as wide as yours, and a hell of a lot softer."_

_"That's it, then; the bed is too soft."_

_She made a disgusted sound in the back of her throat. "No, it's not. It's comfortable," she said. To illustrate, she flipped over onto her other side and spooned herself against him comfortably. After sighing softly, she admonished him, "Now stop being such a baby and go to sleep."_

_He closed his eyes and tried to think of sleepy things._

_Instead, he thought of soft things. Like the feel of her ass pressed up against his privates..._

_Slowly, his fingers trailed her arm. Her skin was unbelievably smooth to the touch. He flattened his palm to increase the contact, then slid it along her body and down over her hips. It felt good to have a naked body pressed again his...And he truly loved making love with her. They'd gone too long without indulging, but on the upside, if their activities tonight were an indication of how she acted after a dry spell..._

_"You feel good," he murmured against her ear as he gently pressed his growing hardness against her._

_"That's good," she said. Determined to fall asleep before he started something, she remained motionless and her eyes firmly closed so as not to encourage him._

_He lifted himself up and kissed her softly on the side of her neck._

_She fought the desire to open her eyes. Playful, just-frakked Bill was settling in for a second campaign. Tomorrow, however, wasn't that many hours away, and it was going to be a busy day...Keeping her body carefully still, she pretended he wasn't there._

_He, however, knew_ she_ was there, and busied himself taking full advantage of that fact._

_"I love your skin," he murmured. Moving as far away from her as he could without falling off the bed, he encouraged her with a gentle hand on her shoulder to lie on her back. He then trailed gentle fingers across her stomach, just beneath the swell of her breasts. Curving his body, he slowly retraced the trail with his lips._

_She sighed as her body totally ignored her brain's desire for sleep and began to respond. The window of opportunity for a decent night's sleep slammed firmly shut._

Lying next to him now, his warmth a comforting presence, she knew it had been worth it. And there had been a few hours left for sleep - she'd even had time to awaken in the middle of it. A wave of satisfaction coursed through her. She liked these extended times with him. Frakking and then parting would have ruined the whole experience. Pleased with herself for convincing him to stay, she snuggled against him and softly returned to sleep.

-xxx-

The alarm going off startled him awake. He thought the sound of it akin to the air raid sirens they'd used during the Cylon Wars to warn the civilian population of attacks.

"Gods, what_ is_ that?" he asked. Blindly reaching over to what served as her night stand, he pounded on the top of a square object until the blaring noise stopped. "You need something like _that_ to wake you up in the morning?" His head flopped back down on his pillow. "I'm surprised it doesn't wake the entire fleet."

Laura stretched contentedly. Moving so that her head was once again on his shoulder, she said, "If I have to be awake, everyone should have to be a wake."

He lifted an eyebrow at her. "Feeling Presidential this morning, are you?"

She nodded and smiled. Lifting herself up on her elbow, she looked down at him. "By the way: Good morning."

He looked up at her. Her hair was mussed and tangled and there was a red mark on her cheek from sleeping on a crease in her pillow. The soft skin around her eyes was puffy, and she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen.

He felt a tingle and laughed at himself. There was no fool like an old fool...

Lifting his hand, he pushed her hair over her shoulder, then gently exerted enough pressure to the back of her neck that she bent her head towards him. He brushed his lips over hers.

"Good morning."

As she moved back slightly, he noticed the time on the clock and stiffened. "Gods! It's 0630! I was supposed to leave by 0400!"

She looked down at him, her hair sliding from behind her shoulder. "So we talked longer than expected," she said carelessly.

"No, no, no!" he exclaimed. Setting her firmly away from him, he sat up. "Laura, there's a big difference between 0400 and 0630. Leaving at 0400 means we worked unusually late. Leaving at 0630 means I stayed the night. I can't believe you didn't set the alarm."

"You didn't say to."

His eyes widened. "It was _your_ plan! I shouldn't have to tell you what to do to pull it off!"

"It went off," she said defensively, "and woke you quite nicely."

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she knew they made no sense, but she stared at him resolutely and stuck to them.

"I'm talking about your plan, not the alarm!" he snapped. "And the alarm should have been set for about 0345!" He reached for his clothes. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself into a calm place.

"What are you going to tell Tory?" he asked in a lower tone.

"I'm not sure. I'll think of something," she said, missing that just-frakked happy person who had greeted her both mornings on _Galactica_.

Her answer abruptly shoved him out of his calm place, forcing him to struggle with an angry retort. She was _not_ getting the hang of this.

"Laura, there will be people at my door by 0700. I'll need to explain why we're all meeting at my door at the same time - on the_ same side_ of the door."

She looked at him. "I'm sure you'll think of something to tell them. Obviously, I'm not as used to coming up with stories to cover my liaisons as you are!"

His eyes widened._ She wasn't as experienced? _His jaw tightened._ And just how did she and Adar- _He pulled back on his thoughts before he voiced them. _Don'tgothere, don'tgothere,_ he told himself determinedly. Instead, he groused, "You make it sound as though I've needed to made a habit of it!"

"And I'm to think you haven't because...?"

He moved his hands helplessly._ What kind of argument _was _this?_ "What in the gods' half acre does _that_ have to do with anything?" he asked. "The issue is that I need to get off this ship discreetly and I can't see a way of doing it, and you're not-"

He stopped suddenly.

"What?" she asked.

He rose quickly and began to throw on his clothes. To hell with it. He needed to act. "What time does Tory get in?" he asked.

"About 0700."

"Good. I'm going to be out there," he said, nodding towards her office, "and sound asleep when she gets here. You're going to be a little late waking up, and will just be coming out into your office area when she arrives."

"You're going back to bed? Dressed?" she asked, totally not getting it.

"No," he said, zipping up his trousers. "I'm going to be out there in one of those lounge chair things. It'll look like I fell asleep during our meeting and you just let me lie. You'll come out and be surprised I'm still here. You'll wake me up, I'll leave, and that'll be it."

She shook her head. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. No one in their right minds would believe I'd let you lie there and sleep all night."

"Got anything better?" he said between clenched teeth.

Her mouth closed.

"I didn't think so. Tory fell for it once, we're going to have to ask her to fall for a variation of it again. Now," he said, heading for the doorway, "I have to set the scene."

He pushed back the curtain and disappeared into her office.

She lay there a moment, then with a muffled exclamation got out of bed and went to the shower.

She was dressed and ready when she heard Tory arrive. Moving quickly, she fixed a bright smile onto her face and lifted the curtain that separated her private area from her office.

"Tory! I was just thinking about my morning coffee and-"

She stopped abruptly, allowed her gaze to slowly follow Tory's, and then pretended not to understand what she was seeing.

"Oh." she finally said. "He didn't wake up. I thought he'd have gone..."

Walking over to where Bill had set himself up in one of the reclining seats, she shook his shoulder. "Admiral Adama! Wake up! What are you doing still here?"

Bill did an exemplary job of slowly awaking. Straightening quickly once he realized where he was, he looked around, reached down to pick up a file that had obviously fallen off his lap, and apologized, "I'm sorry, Madame President. You were saying something about the viper fuel rations...

Laura had to stifle a giggle. He was good, with a definite flair for the dramatic. No wonder his speeches - which often made very little sense - went over so well. It wasn't _what_ you said, but how you delivered it...

Admiral," she said, "It's morning. You've been here all night."

He looked around in confusion. "All night?"

She nodded.

They continued their charade while he called for a raptor, had a quick cup of coffee together while he waited for it to arrive, and then departed. As he left, Laura watched his back and sighed. Brick walls obviously didn't transplant well. He had been fairly relaxed by the time he'd left, but she was certain they would need to spend most of their time together on _Galactica_.

She smiled at the thought. There was no downside to that, really. His bed _was_ more comfortable. And it would mean seeing more of that just-frakked Bill she was beginning to appreciate so much.

-xxx-

Tory saw Roslin's smile. Recognising the just-frakked quality of it, she knew better than to believe a word or gesture of what she had just witnessed. She knew damned well where the Admiral had slept the night before. If he'd slept. Let them play their little games, though. She'd take care of any gossip on this end and warn Colonel Tigh he might have some covering up to do on his end. Shaking her head silently, she brought the president her second cup of coffee and then sat down at her own desk.

She looked across to where Roslin was busily reading through the morning's schedule. She decided it'd be fun to make a not-terribly-subtle comment later that morning about recent sleep problems amongst fleet leadership.

She smirked. And maybe mention the hickey on her boss's neck before the first meeting of the day.

End Incident #3


End file.
